Join our growing global community! 

The Island-Ocean Connection Challenge (IOCC) is a collective effort for comprehensive change. Challenge partners are committed to the holistic restoration of at least 40 globally significant island-ocean ecosystems, from ridge-to-reef to benefit biodiversity, climate, and island communities by 2030.

The IOCC Ecosystem The IOCC’s momentum and success is built on an ‘ecosystem’ of partners across a full spectrum of diverse strengths, and resources- we recognize and embrace the need for a complement of contributions. Local island community champions and NGOs, practitioners, governments, and funders are just a few types of partners we seek to achieve the goals of the IOCC. This allows partners to leverage expertise, funding, and networks so that we can address the global crises impacting islands, oceans, and communities together.

You and the IOCC  We want to engage NGOs seeking to make a bigger impact, researchers, governments from developed nations that can support developing projects, governments of developing nations willing to prioritize and bolster their communities, and, most importantly, local island champions whose guidance, understanding and leadership best reflects the needs of their people and lands.

FAQs

Fill out our inquiry form on this page and one of the founding partner organizations will be in touch to discuss alignment.

  • Each partner will make a unique pledge to the IOCC, committing skills and resources they have to contribute to island-ocean conservation. This will be memorialized in a pledge document and reflected on the IOCC website
  • Partners will demonstrate progress towards the pledge they made when joining and provide annual reports outlining their commitments which will be shared with other IOCC members and the public.
  • Partners contribute to the IOCC ecosystem by sharing their knowledge, considering joint resourcing efforts, and proactively fostering collaboration.
  • Partners assume the role of IOCC ambassadors, sharing IOCC information with their networks and fostering meaningful connections between and among our growing ecosystems of partners.

Our Steering Committee is comprised of senior leaders from our founding partner organizations (Island Conservation, Re:wild, Scripps Institution of Oceanography) and  meets regularly to discuss potential projects. We evaluate potential projects based on what is most aligned with conservation goals of the IOCC. Please contact us for prospective projects criteria.

The Challenge calls for an ecosystem of partners across a full spectrum of diverse strengths, and resources – we recognize and embrace the need for a complement of contributions. Community champions, local NGOs, practitioners, researchers, governments and funders are just a handful of types of expertise and support that we seek to achieve the goals of the Challenge. We look forward to talking with you about the kinds of resources that you bring, and we will be working with partners to align resources across organizations and within geographic areas. We know that together we can increase scale, scope and pace in meaningful and significant ways.

The Challenge aims to be truly global and is open to any island group that meets the criteria. If you have a project that helps to fill in a geography that is not yet represented, we are interested in discussing its inclusion.

We will ask all partners to provide brief annual reports and share their data to track success. The Steering Committee will be responsible for working with partners to develop standardized monitoring across all projects and collating partner impacts into comprehensive reporting annually.

  • Public (press/social media) announcements
  • Recognized on website (logo and narrative) highlighting and amplifying your commitment and story
  • Connection, community and contacts among organizations doing complementary work
  • Shared knowledge and expertise – a community of practice
  • Representation and influence in bringing partners’ respective and shared priorities to the Challenge
  • Scaling up impact locally and globally for islands, oceans, and communities

The Challenge is intentionally aligned to complement, support, and integrate with several ongoing goals and efforts. We have intentionally aligned the Challenge timeline with decadal goals, like the UN Decade of Ocean Sciences and the UN Decade of Ecosystem Restoration. The strategic cohesion of IOCC with other regional initiatives provides a great opportunity to accelerate and amplify the impact of the work. We are an ecosystem of partners with shared goals and multiple vantage points, all pulling in the same direction.

The IOCC focuses on holistic restoration, rewilding, and protection of island-ocean ecosystems. Suggested criteria for prospective projects can be provided upon request  but all IOCC projects will be supported by local island communities and include at least two of the following three components:

★ Restore and Rewild– restoring ecosystem functions like land-sea nutrient flows through actions such as removing invasive species; reintroducing and/or attracting ‘connector’ wildlife species that live at the land-sea interface; recovering endemic and threatened species on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species; restoring native vegetation.

★ Protect– establishing or expanding marine and/or terrestrial protected areas; improving the management and health of established marine and/or terrestrial protected areas.

★ Analyze/Measure– using traditional knowledge and modern tools like image-based ‘big data’ to transform our ability to learn across case studies; optimizing future management and restoration as nature-based solutions.

Partner Inquiries

If you are interested in becoming a partner or learning more, please fill out this form and we will contact you shortly. 

When you become an IOCC partner, benefits include:  

  • Recognition on our website highlighting and amplifying your commitment  
  • Shared social media/press opportunities  
  • Connection, community and contacts among organizations doing complementary work    
  • Shared knowledge and expertise – a community of practice   
  • Representation and advocacy for partners’ respective and shared priorities